Why Didn't Our Ancestors Smile in Photos?

It's serious business, folks.

What would the millions of people taking selfies each day think of the 19th-century photographs in which their ancestors appear grim, unsmiling, or staring blankly into the camera? Conversely, what would those ancestors think of today's endless stream of poses, pouts, filters, and candid snapshots taken with devices that fit in a pocket?

It's a question genealogists hear often:

Why didn't people smile in old photographs?

The Myths We've All Heard

Over the years, many explanations have circulated:

• It took too long to take a photograph.

• People had bad teeth.

• Our ancestors were simply more serious.

• Smiling would blur the image.

While there's a grain of truth in some of these ideas, historians say the real answer is much more interesting.

Photography Was a Special Occasion

According to Smithsonian Magazine, early commercial photographic exposures generally lasted only about 5 to 15 seconds—long enough to require stillness, but not the several minutes many people imagine.

The bigger reason was that photography was expensive and uncommon. For many families, this might be the only portrait they would ever have made. Rather than treat it casually, they approached it much like commissioning a painted portrait.

Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, notes that photographers borrowed heavily from the traditions of portrait painting, where subjects were expected to appear composed, dignified, and respectable.

Smiling Wasn't Considered Proper

Queen Victoria, c. 1882. Photograph by Alexander Bassano. National Portrait Gallery. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The Time Magazine article "Why People Rarely Smiled in Early Photographs" explains that Victorian culture valued restraint and self-control. Broad smiles were often associated with humor, drunkenness, childishness, or a lack of refinement—not qualities people wanted preserved in a formal portrait.

Think about it: if your family was paying a considerable sum for a photograph that might last generations, you'd probably want to look your best according to the standards of the day.

Kodak Changed Everything

Photography became much more casual after George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888. Families no longer had to visit a professional studio every time they wanted a picture.

As cameras became more affordable and easier to use, people began photographing birthdays, vacations, picnics, holidays, and everyday life. Candid moments replaced formal poses, and smiles became increasingly common.

What Genealogists Can Learn

Maurine and Ivan Harold Browning, 1921. Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections. Public domain. ARK: 21198/z14n0nrd.

When you examine your own family photographs, remember that facial expressions reflect the customs of the time as much as the personalities of the people.

A solemn face doesn't mean your ancestors were unhappy. More often, they were presenting themselves with the dignity, respectability, and permanence expected of a formal portrait.

Their expressions tell us just as much about the culture they lived in as the clothes they wore or the studio backdrop behind them.

Learn More

• Smithsonian Magazine: "The Serious Reason Why We Don't Smile in Old Photographs"

• Time: "Why People Rarely Smiled in Early Photographs"

• The Public Domain Review: "The Serious and the Smirk: The Smile in Portraiture"